How Well Did PUBG Transition to Mobile?

It's no surprise that PlayerUnknown's Battleground, known simply as PUBG, was destined to blow up as soon as it made the jump to consoles. With the love of multiplayer, battle-royale style games only growing more and more each year. As well as the ability for consoles to keep up with the specs to run more advanced games, it was only a matter of time before PUBG expanded beyond the realm of PC gaming. It's hard to imagine, however, PUBG running on mobile as anything but a cocktail of glitches and mind-numbing lag. Yet, surprisingly, Bluehole Studios delivered!

Released just earlier this week in the U.S., as well as a soft launch in Canada and other countries, the mobile version of the popular game has already astonished players. Fans of both PC and Xbox versions can now download the addicting game directly to their phones and tablets. Did we mention that it's free? That's right, free, and some are even saying it's better than the Xbox version.

First Impressions

PUBG Mobile, first off, looks great. The textures are nice, the frame-rates even more so, and the game doesn't crash, so far. Even if that was a problem, and it might be seeing how new it is, there is plenty of time to fine-tune any problematic areas. Players are limited to the original map, a fact some may find a tad annoying, but we think that's a fair deal for two reasons. The first being, like we've mentioned before, that the download is free. Secondly, we're confident this will change, knowing all too well how often updates seem to be the norm these days.

Gameplay

The controls for PUBG Mobile are, in our opinion, much more responsive than we first thought possible for such an advanced game being played on mobile devices. It's quite different having the controls on screen, something that takes some getting used to, and there's still the debate whether or not anything can beat a true mouse when it comes to aiming. Either way, the controls aren't too complicated.

Upon starting and entering a game, still unarmed, picking up weapons seems to be easier on mobile. Just run over a weapon and your avatar will automatically pick it up. Ammunition, if present, will also be picked up and loaded automatically. Yet, beyond the first weapon, a grid-system showing attachments and items on the ground seems to be something that will take some practice to master.

Overall

Overall, PUBG Mobile seems to follow the same tactical mechanics as it's PC and Console predecessors, keeping what we love about the game unhindered. The game might pose more a problem with phones with small screens, rather than tablets, the screen size most likely being a large factor into how effective the controls function. Although a lot of games have a tough time with the transition to mobile, this is a home-run in our books, and we look forward to seeing what will come next.

Download PUBG Mobile and see for yourself. From the surprisingly good graphics to the user-friendly controls, we don't think you'll be disappointed. While it's still not, and most likely never will be, a superior alternative to platforms that use a mouse or controller, it's a fine way to keep up the killing sprees while you're away from home.